Life Sciences Commons^™

Mixed Species Seeding: A Means To Increase Production In Temperate Pastures, Michael P. Schellenberg, Bili Biligetu, Valentin Picasso

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Seeding mixed species for forage production has been suggested as a means of increasing productivity and stabilizing yields under a changing climate. Forages have traditionally been sown as monocultures or binary mixtures only, with the emphasis being on species and not necessarily their function or compatibility. While natural plant communities typically may be dominated by a single species, they are comprised of several species and function-al groups.

This paper provides the results of sowing multiple species at semiarid sites within the North American Great Plains and identifies a similar result from a more humid region reported within the literature.

Designing High-Yielding, High-Diversity And Low-Input Temporary Grasslands, Karen Søegaard, Tine B. Mortensen, Jørgen Eriksen

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Species-rich swards have received increasing interest due to their focus on ecosystem services, animal welfare and product quality. However, in high-yielding swards the proportion of herbs is often limited and there is little knowledge of their management. Seed mixture composition, cutting frequency, fertilization and grazing/cutting strategies were examined over 4 years in 3 experiments to quantify their effects on herbage yield and botanical composition. Inclusion of herbs in the sward gave similar or higher annual yields but swards established with 100% herbs depended on the presence of a driver species. The effects of management differed between species. Herb content in …

Treehoppers (Hemiptera: Aetalionidae And Membracidae) From Madre De Dios Region, Peru, Chung-Ping Lin, Munetoshi Maruyama, Jo-Fan Wang, Paige E. Miller, Caroline S. Chaboo

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

A list of treehoppers (Aetalionidae and Membracidae) is presented from Madre de Dios region at the southeastern Amazon basin in Peru. The treehopper specimens were collected as by-catch in a survey of the beetles in the Villa Carmen Biological Station and Los Amigos Biological Station. The list comprises 44 species, 31 genera, 16 tribes and 9 subfamilies. Ten genera are new records to Peru. The images of representative specimens of each identified species and genera are provided to facilitate the identification of the local treehopper fauna.

Resumen: Se presenta una lista de los membrácidos (Aetalionidae y Membracidae) de la región …

Past Management Spurs Differential Plant Communities Within A Giant Single-Clone Aspen Forest, Paul C. Rogers, Jan ŠEbesta

Ecology Center Publications

Sustainable aspen ecosystems hold great promise for global biodiversity conservation. These forests harbor relatively high species diversity, yet are threatened by fire suppression, land development, timber-focused management, extended droughts, and chronic herbivory. “Pando” is a high-profile quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) forest in Utah, USA which is putatively the ‘largest living organism on earth.’ Pando comprises an estimated 47,000 genetically identical stems, but is threatened by human impacts. Our interest in the present study is whether changes to the giant organism were affecting understorey vegetation and whether discrete zones are displaying divergent community compositions. For instance, recent research has demonstrated strong …

Variations In Tetrodotoxin Levels In Populations Of Taricha Granulosa Are Expressed In The Morphology Of Their Cutaneous Glands, Pedro Luiz Mailho-Fontana, Carlos Jared, Marta Maria Antoniazzi, Juliana Mozer Sciani, Daniel Carvalho Pimenta, James P. Strange, Taran Grant, Edmund D. Brodie Jr., Edmund D. Brodie Jr.

Biology Faculty Publications

Tetrodotoxin (TTX), one of the most toxic substances in nature, is present in bacteria, invertebrates, fishes, and amphibians. Marine organisms seem to bioaccumulate TTX from their food or acquire it from symbiotic bacteria, but its origin in amphibians is unclear. Taricha granulosa can exhibit high TTX levels, presumably concentrated in skin poison glands, acting as an agent of selection upon predatory garter snakes (Thamnophis). This co-evolutionary arms race induces variation in T. granulosa TTX levels, from very high to undetectable. Using morphology and biochemistry, we investigated differences in toxin localization and quality between two populations at the extremes …

Arthropod Diversity In Contrasting Ontario Peatlands, Grace Carscallen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Peatlands are important wetland systems, but dominant macroarthropod groups endemic to peatlands and the environmental factors that affect them are poorly represented in the literature. I examined the richness, abundance, and community composition of soil and surface dwelling macroarthropods using emergence traps, peat sorting, and pitfall traps in two Ontario fens differing in water table, nutrient level, and vegetation. I found 218 arthropod morphospecies, with each site having a similar richness of emergent arthropods, but patterns of community composition differed between the two sites. The Carex (sedge) dominated site had twice as many emergent individuals, and total abundances declined dramatically …

Toward A Metabolic Theory Of Life History, Joseph Robert Burger, Chen Hou, James H. Brown

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

The life histories of animals reflect the allocation of metabolic energy to traits that determine fitness and the pace of living. Here, we extend metabolic theories to address how demography and mass-energy balance constrain allocation of biomass to survival, growth, and reproduction over a life cycle of one generation. We first present data for diverse kinds of animals showing empirical patterns of variation in life-history traits. These patterns are predicted by theory that highlights the effects of 2 fundamental biophysical constraints: demography on number and mortality of offspring; and mass-energy balance on allocation of energy to growth and reproduction. These …

A First Phylogenetic Assessment Of Dictyonemo S.Lat In Southwestern North America Reveals Three New Basidiolichens, Described In Honor James D. Lawrey, Manuel Dal Forno, Laurel Kaminsky, Roger Rosentreter, R. Troy Mcmullin, André Aptroot, Robert Lücking

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Three species of lichenized basidiomycetes in the Dictyonema clade from southeastern North America are described as new to science: Cyphellostereum georgianum, C. jamesianum and Dictyonema lawreyi, all with a crustose-filamentous growth form. Based on ITS sequences, the species form well-supported monophyletic clades in a phylogeny and are represented by at least two specimens each. They are also distinguishable by morphological and anatomical characters. These new findings emphasize the importance of lichenological studies in North America, especially in historically understudied taxonomic groups, such as basidiolichens. This study is dedicated to James D. Lawrey on the occasion of his 70^{th …}

Mammal Species Inventory Using Various Trapping Methods In Zone 4 Of Billy Barquedier National Park, Belize During Rainy Season, Mersady Redding

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Belize is a small country, but it is extremely ecologically diverse. Based on the few studies conducted in Belize, the abundance of mammals is low but diversity is high. Particular findings note the number and identity of species differed between four sites in the Maya Mountains of Belize, indicating that a data set from a single site is not representative of the Neotropical region. Insufficient data is available to estimate current species richness of many areas in Belize, including Billy Barquedier National Park (BBNP). The objective of this study was to explore trapping and documentation methods of terrestrial mammals in …

Impact Of The Human Footprint On Anthropogenic Mortality Of North American Reptiles, Jacob E. Hill, Travis L. Devault, Jerrold L. Belant

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Human activities frequently result in reptile mortality, but how direct anthropogenic mortality compares to natural morality has not been thoroughly investigated. There has also been a limited examination of how anthropogenic reptile mortality changes as a function of the human footprint. We conducted a synthesis of causespecific North American reptile mortality studies based on telemetry, documenting 550 mortalities of known cause among 2461 monitored individuals in 57 studies. Overall 78% of mortality was the result of direct natural causes, whereas 22% was directly caused by humans. The single largest source of mortality was predation, accounting for 62% of mortality overall. …

Changes To North American Butterfly Names, Jing Zhang, Qian Cong, Jinhui Shen, Paul A. Opler, Nick V. Grishin

The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey

We obtained and analyzed whole genome shotgun sequences of all 845 species of butterflies recorded from Canada and the United States. Genome-scale phylogenetic trees constructed from the data reveal several nonmonophyletic genera and suggest improved classification of species included in these genera. Here, these changes are formalized and 2 subgenera are described: Amblyteria Grishin, subgen. n. (type species Goniloba exoteria Herrich-Schäffer, 1869, parent genus Amblyscirtes Scudder, 1872), and Coa Grishin, subgen. n. (type species Hesperia baracoa Lucas, 1857, parent genus Polites Scudder, 1872). Furthermore, we resurrect 3 genera and 2 subgenera from synonymy, change the rank of 6 currently used …

A Global View Of Aspen: Conservation Science For Widespread Keystone Systems, Paul C. Rogers, Bradley D. Pinno, Jan Šebesta, Benedicte R. Albrectsen, Guoqing Li, Natalya Ivanova, Dominik Kulakowski, Antonín Kusbach, Timo Kuuluvainen, Simon M. Landhäusser, Hongyan Liu, Tor Myking, Pertti Pulkkinen, Zhongming Wen

Ecology Center Publications

Across the northern hemisphere, six species of aspen (Populus spp.) play a disproportionately important role in promoting biodiversity, sequestering carbon, limiting forest disturbances, and providing other ecosystem services. In many regions, aspen can maintain canopy dominance for decades to centuries as the sole major broadleaf trees in forested landscapes otherwise dominated by conifers. Aspen ecosystems are valued for many reasons, but here we highlight their potential as key contributors to regional and global biodiversity. We begin with an overview of the aspens’ ecological and economic roles. We then present a systematic literature analysis to assess topics of aspen …

Wildlife Survey Of National Parks To Assess Reptilian Biodiversity, Ajk, Jibran Haider, Inayatullah Malik, Sabiha Shamim

Journal of Bioresource Management

The class Reptilia belongs to phylum Chordata. This group forms a large community of the land vertebrates. However, they remain relatively under-examined. Roll et al. (2017) studied the global distribution of more than 10,000 reptiles. Nearly194 reptilian species have been reported from Pakistan (WWF, n.d.). Five protected parks were studied from February 2008 to May 2010. Dhirkot Nature Reserve (DNR), Banjosa Nature Reserve (BNR), Tolipir National Park (TNP), Pir Chanasi National Park (PCNP) and Pir Lasura National Park (PLNP) were considered. Fifteen species of reptiles were observed in TNP. Ten species of reptiles were recorded from PCNP. Ten species of …

The Neotropical Variegated Squirrel, Sciurus Variegatoides (Rodentia: Sciuridae) In Nicaragua, With The Description Of A New Subspecies, Hugh H. Genoways, Robert M. Timm

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

The Neotropical variegated squirrel, Sciurus variegatoides, is represented in Nicaragua by five known subspecies—adolphei, belti, boothiae, dorsalis, and underwoodi. Analyses of morphometrics, color, and color patterns of 394 specimens from throughout the country and all available literature support the retention of these subspecies, but also reveal the presence of a sixth population of these squirrels, which is worthy of description and recognition as a new subspecies. This new subspecies is confined to Isla de Ometepe in Lago de Nicaragua. Variegated squirrels on Ometepe are on average the smallest variegated squirrels in the country …

Fifty New Genera Of Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera), Qian Cong, Jing Zhang, Jinhui Shen, Nick V. Grishin

Insecta Mundi

Genomic sequencing and analysis of worldwide skipper butterfly (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) fauna points to imperfections in their current classification. Some tribes, subtribes and genera as they are circum­scribed today are not monophyletic. Rationalizing genomic results from the perspective of phenotypic characters suggests two new tribes, two new subtribes and 50 new genera that are named here: Ceratrichiini Grishin, trib. n., Gretnini Grishin, trib. n., Falgina Grishin, subtr. n., Apaustina Grishin, subtr. n., Flattoides Grishin, gen. n., Aurivittia Grishin, gen. n., Viuria Grishin, gen. n., Clytius Grishin, gen. n., Incisus Grishin, gen. n., …

Effectiveness Of Different Agricultural Management Styles As Insect Biological Corridors: A Comparison Of Insect Populations In Fragmented Chocó Cloud Forest, Ecuador, Tara M. Krantz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Insects are part of the most diverse class of animals on the planet and are essential to various ecological functions such as pollination, nutrient cycling, providing a food source for other taxa, and more. The diversity and ecological services of insects are necessary to the operation of agriculture because of pest control and pollination of crops. However, the diversity of insects is severely reduced due to fragmentation. It is currently not well understood if certain types of agriculture can lessen the impact of fragmentation on natural and crop-based insect communities. In this study, insect populations in four different agricultural management …

Effectiveness Of Snap And A24-Automated Traps And Broadcast Anticoagulant Bait In Suppressing Commensal Rodents In Hawaii, Aaron B. Shiels, Tyler Bogardus, Jobriath Rohrer, Kapua Kawelo

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Commensal rodents (invasive rats, Rattus spp.; house mice, Mus musculus) are well established globally. They threaten human health by disease transfer and impact economies by causing agricultural damage. On island landscapes, they are frequent predators of native species and affect biodiversity. To provide managers with better information regarding methods to suppress commensal rodent populations in remote island forests, in 2016 we evaluated the effectiveness of continuous rat trapping using snap-traps, Goodnature® A24 self-resetting rat traps, and a 1-time (2-application) hand-broadcast of anticoagulant rodenticide bait pellets (Diphacinone-50) applied at 13.8 kg/ha per application in a 5-ha forest on Oahu, Hawaii, USA. …

The Composition And Height Of Saplings Capturing Silvicultural Gaps At Two Long-Term Experiments In Managed Northern Hardwood Forests, Sam Knapp, Christopher R. Webster, Christel C. Kern

Michigan Tech Publications

Managing forests for mixtures of canopy species promotes future resilience and mitigates risks of catastrophic resource loss. This study describes the compositions, heights, and locations within openings of gap-capturing saplings in two long-term group-selection experiments in managed northern hardwoods. We expected opening size to affect the composition of gap-capturing saplings and that composition would match advance regeneration where relatively large stems remained following harvest. We also expected sapling height to respond positively to opening size, but plateau in gap areas above 200 m², and legacy-tree retention to negatively affect sapling height. In two group-selection experiments, we found that …

Conservation Risk Of Batrachochytrium Salamandrivorans To Endemic Lungless Salamanders, Edward Davis Carter, Debra L. Miller, Anna C. Peterson, William B. Sutton, Joseph Patrick W. Cusaac, Jennifer A. Spatz, Louise Rollins-Smith, Laura Reinert, Markese Bohanon, Lori A. Williams, Andrea Upchurch, Matthew J. Gray

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

The emerging fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), is a significant conservation threat to salamander biodiversity in Europe, although its potential to affect North American species is poorly understood. We tested the susceptibility of two genera (Eurycea and Pseudotriton) and three populations of lungless salamanders (Plethodontidae) to Bsal. All species became infected with Bsal and two (Pseudotriton ruber and Eurycea wilderae) developed chytridiomycosis. We also documented that susceptibility of E. wilderae differed among populations. Regardless of susceptibility, all species reduced feeding when exposed to Bsal at the highest zoospore dose, and P. ruber and one population of E. wilderae used cover …

Biodiversity, Fall/Winter 2012, Issue 25

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Geographic Population Structure And Taxonomic Identity Of Rhinichthys Osculus, The Santa Ana Speckled Dace, As Elucidated By Nuclear Dna Intron Sequencing, Liane Raynette Greaver

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Rhinichthys osculus (Cyprinidae), the speckled dace, is the most widely distributed freshwater fish in the western United States. The southern California populations of R. osculus are identified as the Santa Ana speckled dace (SASD), though the SASD has not yet been formally recognized as a distinct taxon. Current mtDNA analysis performed in the Metcalf Lab has shown a reciprocally monophyletic relationship among three California regions; southern, central coast, and Owens Valley. Similarly, microsatellite genotyping has shown significant levels of geographic population structure. The purpose of this study was to provide nuclear DNA sequence data to determine the taxonomic status of …

Subsistence Strategies In Traditional Societies Distinguish Gut Microbiomes, Alexandra J. Obregon-Tito, Raul Y. Tito, Jessica Metcalf, Krithivasan Sankaranarayanan, Jose C. Clemente, Luke K. Ursell, Zhenjiang Zech Xu, Will Van Treuren, Rob Knight, Patrick M. Gaffney, Paul Spicer, Paul Lawson, Luis Marin-Reyes, Omar Trujillo-Villarroel, Morris Foster, Emilio Guija-Poma, Luzmila Troncoso-Corzo, Christina Warinner, Andrew T. Ozga, Cecil M. Lewis Jr.

Andrew Ozga

Recent studies suggest that gut microbiomes of urban-industrialized societies are different from those of traditional peoples. Here we examine the relationship between lifeways and gut microbiota through taxonomic and functional potential characterization of faecal samples from hunter-gatherer and traditional agriculturalist communities in Peru and an urban-industrialized community from the US. We find that in addition to taxonomic and metabolic differences between urban and traditional lifestyles, hunter-gatherers form a distinct sub-group among traditional peoples. As observed in previous studies, we find that Treponema are characteristic of traditional gut microbiomes. Moreover, through genome reconstruction (2.2–2.5 MB, coverage depth × 26–513) and functional …

A Moral Panic Over Cats, William S. Lynn, Francisco J. Santiago-Ávila, Joann Lindenmayer, John Hadidian, Arian D. Wallach, Barbara J. King

John Hadidian, PhD

Some conservationists believe that free-ranging cats pose an enormous risk to biodiversity and public health and therefore should be eliminated from the landscape by any means necessary. They further claim that those who question the science or ethics behind their arguments are science deniers (merchants of doubt) seeking to mislead the public. As much as we share a commitment to conservation of biodiversity and wild nature, we believe these ideas are wrong and fuel an unwarranted moral panic over cats. Those who question the ecological or epidemiological status of cats are not science deniers, and it is a false analogy …

A Moral Panic Over Cats, William S. Lynn, Francisco J. Santiago-Ávila, Joann Lindenmayer, John Hadidian, Arian D. Wallach, Barbara J. King

William S. Lynn, PhD

Some conservationists believe that free-ranging cats pose an enormous risk to biodiversity and public health and therefore should be eliminated from the landscape by any means necessary. They further claim that those who question the science or ethics behind their arguments are science deniers (merchants of doubt) seeking to mislead the public. As much as we share a commitment to conservation of biodiversity and wild nature, we believe these ideas are wrong and fuel an unwarranted moral panic over cats. Those who question the ecological or epidemiological status of cats are not science deniers, and it is a false analogy …

A Moral Panic Over Cats, William S. Lynn, Francisco J. Santiago-Ávila, Joann Lindenmayer, John Hadidian, Arian D. Wallach, Barbara J. King

Stray and Feral Animal Populations Collection

Some conservationists believe that free-ranging cats pose an enormous risk to biodiversity and public health and therefore should be eliminated from the landscape by any means necessary. They further claim that those who question the science or ethics behind their arguments are science deniers (merchants of doubt) seeking to mislead the public. As much as we share a commitment to conservation of biodiversity and wild nature, we believe these ideas are wrong and fuel an unwarranted moral panic over cats. Those who question the ecological or epidemiological status of cats are not science deniers, and it is a false analogy …

Global Observational Needs And Resources For Marine Biodiversity, Enrique Montes-Herrera, Frank Muller-Karger

Marine Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Tentative List Of The Land Snails Of Georgia, U.S.A., Zachary I. Felix, Michael A. Dubuc, Hassan A. Rana

Georgia Journal of Science

Because of their high ecological and conservation value, and because we know so little about the group, we compiled a systematic if tentative list of land snails from the state of Georgia. After gleaning a list of species from a monograph on the land snails of eastern United States, written by Leslie Hubricht in 1985, we realized that many species whose ecological requirements are found in Georgia had not been documented there. Therefore, we developed a qualitative model to predict the likelihood that these candidate species occur in Georgia and would eventually be documented. We tested the model with collections …

Toward A Coordinated Global Observing System For Seagrasses And Marine Macroalgae, Frank Muller-Karger, Chuanmin M. Hu, Enrique Montes-Herrera, Mengqiu Wang

Marine Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ecological Considerations And Application Of Urban Tree Selection In Massachusetts, Ashley Mcelhinney

Masters Theses

Trees provide countless environmental, economic, and societal benefits to the urban environment, and may become increasingly important to maintaining environmental quality and human well-being in the face of increasing urbanization and climate change. However, trees in these urban areas are rapidly diminishing across the United States. Much of this loss can be prevented with proper planning and management, focused on selecting tree species that are both well-suited to the area’s growing conditions and able to survive the many stress factors in an urban setting. Choosing which tree species to plant in Massachusetts is especially challenging considering the lack of resources …

Oomycete Metabarcoding Reveals The Presence Of Lagenidium Spp. In Phytotelmata, Paula Leoro-Garzon, Andrew J. Gonedes, Isabel Olivera, Aurelien Tartar

Biology Faculty Articles

The oomycete genus Lagenidium, which includes the mosquito biocontrol agent L. giganteum, is composed of animal pathogens, yet is phylogenetically closely related to the well characterized plant pathogens Phytophthora and Pythium spp. These phylogenetic affinities were further supported by the identification of canonical oomycete effectors in the L. giganteum transcriptome, and suggested, mirroring the endophytic abilities demonstrated in entomopathogenic fungi, that L. giganteum may have similarly retained capacities to establish interactions with plant tissues. To test this hypothesis, culture-independent, metabarcoding analyses aimed at detecting L. giganteum in bromeliad phytotelmata (a proven mosquito breeding ground) microbiomes were performed. Two …